These whacky "audio sunglasses" are actually GREAT! (Soundcore Frames hands-on review)

Let's go ahead and wrap up with an all new under review the segment where we

talk about products that we're testing. I got a fun one for you guys this week

and I'm going to start off with a I'm going to start off with a a disclaimer

This product is probably not going to be for everyone. Okay, like like I think

that anchor has a great product on their hands here, but it's a tough sell

because not everyone wants to have a product like this. So what am I talking

about? I'm getting ahead of myself here. I have in my hands the onca sound

core frames and let me see if I can turn my camera zoom on or my focus on

here. So you guys can actually see these things up close. Yeah, is that working kind of there? We go there. There we go. How's that? Yeah, there

you go. So these are a pair of audio sunglasses and actually I think they

have a pair of frames that you can just put normal glasses into and so they

have like these speakers that are built into the stems of the sunglasses. I

know this sounds wacky. I know for a lot of people are like why would you want this? It's for people like me who love having a theory audio and we had this

conversation a while ago about the toilet seats that go over your neck with

the speakers in them right and they have the speakers that you can wear around

your neck from sony and from bows and the idea is you place them around your

neck and then you don't have to wear headphones or earphones or anything and then the and then the music just blast up to your head and you can wear them on

bike rides and a walks and and I think that I might be in this strange class

of people that really likes a theory audio products like when I'm walking

around outside when I when I'm on bike rides, I don't mind wearing my my air

pods, but I prefer to not have anything in my ears and that's what these things

do. They connect to your smart phone, your iphone, your ipad, whatever and

they broadcast. They have some like tiny speakers built in here. I don't know if

I can show this. They have these tiny speakers that are built into the the

frames yeah there you go and you can see they just blast audio right into your

ear and they come in a in a multitude of designs and the way this works is like

these stems have like this. I think it's like a proprietary connection and you just like hold on. You just pull them off and so you can pull them off of the

actual glasses and and then put new glasses onto the fronts and they sent me

a whole bunch of designs. They have they make them in all these styles and and

some of the styles. I actually really like like I like the styles that that I

have here. They're kind of like a like a peach colored acetate and the other

thing that I just found out because like when I first got these, I was like

man, I really wish like these are polarized and then I went and looked at the the box. They are polarized. They're all polarized like so like they're

really high quality sunglasses on the front and they do a good job at

eliminating glare and stuff. So they're not like some cheap sunglasses attached

to like some speakers like it's not a gimmick. It's like they really put a lot of thought and design into this product and they work very seamlessly with your

Apple products. I mean you can even see the battery meter for the the sound

core frames on your iphone, so you can see how much battery life is left, which by the way they hardly ever need to be charged like I charge them maybe once a

week. I wear them all the time. They last forever. I don't know exactly what the number is, but I probably charge them maybe once a week and when I charge on

they usually have like twenty thirty percent battery life left and as soon as

you take them off they go into sleep mode. So they don't use battery power and when you put them on let me see here you might be able to hear it. No, can't hear

anything. How do I look by the way? Oh man so cool cool looking sunglasses

right and and so they connect when you put them on your face and then they just

broadcast your audio, you know directly to your ears and and I love a man like I

wear them when I'm outside. I've been wearing them on bike rides and stuff and

they have I was telling Lewis. I don't know if this is pre show, but I was saying like they've actually replaced my air pods in certain scenarios like when

I go outside when I go on drives when I'm riding my bike. I usually wear these

instead of wearing my air pods because I just like having the ethereal audio and

and also now I have sunglasses with me as well and they've got some designs

that I really like like they have these ones which I showed you and let me see

here. You don't have to worry about the air pod popping out and falling down a

drain or falling into your toilet. I don't even know if this is like all the

I came Davis and you some I need some doctor disrespect style ones yeah, so

they've got they've got a bunch of different designs. They sent me. They probably sent me like freaking three hundred dollars for dollars with of

designs here. How much is each each set of sunglasses? I think they're fifty

bucks, which for a pair of high quality polarized sunglasses, I sound like I'm

shilling for them like I'm not. They didn't pay me to say this. They did send these to me for free, which people always say it doesn't affect your

opinion. I think it does, but I actually genuinely do like them and I think

fifty dollars for a pair of high quality polarized sunglasses is actually not

very much like my Ray Bans that I that I routinely wear cost like a hundred and

dollars right. So paying fifty just for the for the front parts, I actually

don't think is is is all that unreasonable. These kind of look like

the Ray Ban Wayfarer sunglasses that I normally wear. They sent me. I guess

these ones are pretty similar and again all of them polarized right. So you get

really high quality optical on all of these different sunglasses. I'm holding up some clear ones with black lenses. Oh here we go, Lewis. Now I know this is

your style because I know you're all about the Biden sunglasses. You like

that Biden style. Here you go. Here's the Biden aviators right there. So you

can I'm going to I'm going to call the Hunter S Thompson aviators. That's the

classic. Well, there's one thing for sure. When you're wearing these, you can see the stairs clearly when you're coming in and out of the plane. So these

would help you navigate that scenario expertly and then wait a second. I K Dave

this might be what we were looking for here. This is this is kind of like Dr

Disrespect ish isn't it or they just purple. They just need some like mirror

finish. Anyway, I realize this is kind of a unique product and like I said, I

think that Anker has a kind of a tough sell on their hands because I think a

lot of people are like why would I want sunglasses that play audio like

everyone I've talked to about these thought it was kind of like a wacky is any idea, but the thing is is like once you use them and you're like, oh, this

is actually really nice because now I don't have to put anything in my ears. I

can wear them outside. I can wear them when I'm out and about they're really

great for podcasts. I mean they sound good. I wouldn't say they sound as good

as air pods do because they're not inside your ears, but they sound really

good and you can definitely listen to music on them. But what I've been using them for is like listening to podcasts, watching Youtube videos and that type

of thing. They have great range that you can get super far away from your phone, and I think one of the other things I wanted to mention was just how

well designed this product is like they're really well thought out and the

industrial design is good, like the product quality is really good. They

integrate super tightly with your with your apple devices and the experience

is just really good. So anyway, I was going to frames yeah go ahead, sorry, I

was going to ask you like what do you thought of the audio quality? I got to try these out before they launched them and you know it didn't sound it

definitely doesn't sound as good as air pods. No. And for me it's a no it you

know aside from like getting some with prescriptions put in it's impossible

because I can't I can't see without classes right. So I would not be able to

use this product. But I think that for podcasts it would be unbelievably great

and and actually with music it. It does have a kind of a almost like a home

potty kind of like shimmery sound around your ears right. I mean it's it's it's

nowhere near as good as a home pod obviously because it's tiny little speakers right by your ears, but it's just like you're kind of cocooned in

that little audio right yeah and you still have total situational awareness

So like when you're like I wore these on my bike to see if if they would work

because you have like the wind noise and everything and they did the one complaint I do have about these is I wish they got louder like they just

don't get loud enough in some scenarios because you don't have anything in your ears blocking sound, and so I found oftentimes, especially with with YouTube

videos, because people publish their videos with different volume levels and some videos sound super loud and they're fine and then some of them are really

low and these just don't get loud enough to you know boost that audio up. So

that's kind of like my only complaints about these, but and then they don't

sound as good as you know air pods, but I guess for me I didn't expect them to

because yeah, it's a different thing. Yeah, it's a completely different product. It's more about convenience than it is about having the best, you know

audio quality, and so if you're looking for like the absolute most pristine audio quality, well then you know a speaker packed into the stem of a pair of

sunglasses obviously aren't going to sound as good as something that you know

are inside your ears and are entirely speakers and not meant to also you know

be slender and slim so that it can fit inside of the stem of a pair of

sunglasses. But yeah, you could take phone calls on them to right yeah, you

could take phone calls. I haven't tested the microphone quality. I don't even know if these have a microphone in them. I think they do and I haven't tried that

yet, but I should give you a call and you should let me know on air. Oh yeah

they've got two mics one one in each one in one in each stem. They have five

point five hour play time, which actually is lower than I would have

thought, because like I said, like my last all week and I use them for long

stretches of time over the course of the week and they're also ipx for water

resistance. So I guess that means they can get splashed by rain and have to look up what ipx for means. I don't remember

and yeah they're cool man. I know I started off when we were talking about

this. I was like I don't think I'm in love with them yet, but I'm close like I'm close like they have definitely found their way into my heart and I

whenever I go out now, like I always make sure they're with me and the other thing I like is is they're kind of covert right like there are situations

where you don't want to have your your air pods in because then people know

that you're not paying attention to them, but with these, so the thing I

forgot to mention is they they have their their touch sensitive on the

sides like they have these logos on the sides that you can like double tap and you can start and stop your audio by double tapping the sides of the stem

which is something that they used to have in or in the earlier versions of

of the air pods, which they got rid of in the air pods three, which I actually

don't like as much, because now, if you want to control audio, you have to like like press on the stem, which is it right convenience and so for these like

you can just be like having a conversation with your wife like right

and and like and and like she comes in. This is the typical scenario for me right like I'm sitting there, listen to something and then she just comes in

She starts talking to me because she doesn't know that I'm listening to anything, so I just double tap it and it stops and then I'm listening

listening, listening. You know I'm like okay, yeah, that sounds cool like yeah great great plan there and then as soon as she's done going on and on about

whatever she's talking about. I just double tap it and the auto starts again and it doesn't really seem like I'm listening to anything now. If they're

close enough to you, they can hear it because it's a theory. So they might be

able to tell, but on a drive like if I'm going to drive with my wife like I'm

not going to wear my air pods because that means I'm communicating the message like I'm not listening to you. I want to be listening to my air pods

right and when we're on drives, my wife always wants to be talking to me, but then sometimes there's little breaks where she stops. So I just dude, I just

double dab it. Sometimes there are times when she stops. Also, it could also

work the other way. When they start talking, you tap the temples and start

the music and you just start nodding. Yes, dear, yes, honey, you're absolutely

right, dear. We're going to get you a pair of these, Louis. I think you need a pair of these

It's funny you mentioned that. The whole thing of like my wife does the exact

same thing. I mostly am up in the office. So then when I go downstairs to get

some water or coffee or something like that, it's like, oh, now's my chance to

talk to Louis. I typically, if I'm making a cup of coffee, I'm listening to a

podcast with an air pod in my ear and she just comes in and she starts talking

I'm like, you know, I can't hear you because I've got it. So she doesn't get

the visual cue that I can't hear it. And it's an odd phenomenon, isn't it? It's

like, you know, you feel like somebody just barged in on you and expected you to

be just 100% listening to you. But in fact, you're like, you know, listening to

some podcast, right? Because, you know, you haven't you've been in there sometimes like if you're in the zone washing the dishes for like 10, 15

minutes, you know, what are you doing? I mean, is it is it weird that I've got

that I'm listening to a podcast where I watch dishes? No, I'm in fact, she used to complain because I would listen to the radio back in the day, right? Listen

to the radio and like, oh, you're always listening to the radio. I don't want to hear it. I'm like, okay, well, now I have now I have air pods and I can listen to

the radio or podcast and anyway, common common problem, I guess, at least with

between the two of us. Yeah, I think that's a common wife husband problem. I

know there's there's so many people out there who are kind of like nodding and they're like I know you're talking about when you're on the drive and you're

like I kind of wanted to just listen to a podcast, but you're talking to me, you

know, it's like I don't want to be rude, but if you're going to stop, then I'll just you know double tap it and I'll wait for the next, you know, stream of

consciousness to begin for double tab. Anyway, I should wrap up. I know I've

been going on and on about these, but I wasn't expecting to like them as much

as I have and and I think more than anything else is I love the design of

the sunglasses, which is important right because like they're actually cool sunglasses. They're a hundred fifty bucks for a pair of these and and then

the like the actual sunglass portion, which you just you know snap on to the

the stems here cost fifty bucks each. I think they're all fifty dollars and I

think I'm just got a great product on their hands here. I really do like like I said, they're kind of wacky. They're not for everyone, but I like them and if

you like a theory audio, I would wholeheartedly recommend you try these out and you might you'll probably like them more than you're. You think that

you're going to like them. Once you have like that ethereal audio experience, you don't have to have anything in your ears. Once you get used to it, it's it's

just kind of nice to have some some variety. You don't have to have something jammed in your ears all the time. I went on and on about those

forever, so now it's just a stream of consciousness. It's an interesting product man. It's different, you know, it's not just another set of air pods or

ear buds. It's not it's not another. You know wall wart yeah to say about it. I mean it's an interesting thing yeah, that's

actually a great point. It is it's an unusual product. I think that might actually might make it. What is interesting because it's not just

another pair of headphones like you say like everyone like everyone's always got a pair of headphones or like our our headphones are different because I go to

eleven or look the the the ear cups are a special microfiber that comes in

purple right, but they're but they're all just headphones and it's like an

and here you have anchor and anchor is interesting because they got their

start on you or on amazon. I think they were built to be an amazon company and

they started off with like cables and apple accessories and they built a brand

name for themselves for building like high quality cables and stuff and now they're branching out like we were talking about. They have like that power

bank like that fifteen hundred dollar battery power bank. They just came out with a three printer which I think is really interesting and I'm wondering how

that compares to other other three d printers and now they're branching out into other products which which is interesting. They have these. They have a

bunch of audio products now so they're kind of expanding into everything. Their

ear buds are really good too. I mean you know they they don't have that apple

ecosystem magic right. I mean that's that's my only knock against them

otherwise nobody has that. I mean like being that that's the thing you realize how great the air pods are when you can move from from your iphone to your ipad

to your mac and you don't have to connect anything or do anything like and these are bluetooth like they have a great connection, but when you're

connected to your phone and then you go to your ipad, they don't automatically connect to your ipad. You have to like disconnect them from your from your

iphone reconnect them to your ipad. It's you know it's kind of lame, but that's

how bluetooth works. You know yeah that's how everything works. Everything works

with ear pods. Yeah exactly